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TIGRANOCERTA

TIGRANOCERTA (τὰΤιγρανόκερτα, Strab. xi. pp. 522, 532; Ptol. 5.13.22; ἡΤιγρανοκέρτα, Plut. Lucull. 25, &c.), literally, the city of Tigranes, since κέρτα (kert, gerd, or karta) meant, in the Armenian dialect, city (Hesych. iii. p. 237).
The later capital of Armenia, built by Tigranes on an eminence by the river Nicephorius, a city of considerable size and strongly fortified.
It was in a great measure populated with Greeks and Macedonians, taken thither by force from Cappadocia and Cilicia. After Lucullus gained his victory over Tigranes before its walls, he caused a great part of the still unfinished town to be pulled down, and permitted its kidnapped inhabitants to return to their homes. Nevertheless, the town continued to exist, though we hear but little of it subsequently to this event. (Cf. Strab. ll. cc. and xii. p. 539, xvi p. 747; App. Mith. 67; Plut. Luc. 25, sqq.; Tac. Ann. 12.50, 14.24, 15.4; Plin. Nat. 6.9. s. 10.)
It has been variously identified with the ruins of Sert on the Chabur, with Mejafurkin, and with Amid or Amadiah. (See Ainsworth, ii. p. 361; St. Martin, i. p. 173; Ritter, Erdk. x. p. 87, xi. p. 106, sqq. )